CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
EDUCATION AND THE ARTS
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To: Readers of TR-856, Identifying Arabic-Language Materials for Children That Promote Tolerance and Critical
Thinking.
The Arabic titles and authors of the books mentioned on pages 29, 30, and 31 were inadvertently transposed during
the document production process.
The proper spellings are as follows:
Sheep Don’t Eat Cats (p. 29)
Title:
Author:
The Story of a Boy Named Fayez (p. 30)
Title:
Author:
And onThat Night (p. 31)
Title:
Author:
We regret any inconvenience.
The Materials Search Process and Description of the Collection
29
ous and direct was the code: “At least one character acts in a tolerant or pro-social way.” Of the
104 materials reviewed, 62 percent met this criterion. Moreover, within this set of materials,
tolerance was often the central theme in the work, with the message communicated directly
(i.e., employing scaffolding) or through metaphor. Critical thinking was most directly measured using three coding criteria: “Different ways to think or solve a problem are discussed or
shown,” “Question rules, authority or societal assumptions while thinking or problem solving,” and “Draw different conclusions from the same information.” In total, 53 percent of
materials met at least one of these three criteria, although it must be recalled that extra effort
was made in the search process to locate materials with critical thinking themes. In addition,
critical thinking was frequently a secondary rather than a primary theme in these works.
The limited availability of Arabic language children’s media promoting critical thinking
can be explained by three main factors. The first is that the skills needed to think critically
do not develop until children reach the oldest of the age groups considered in this study, so
it is not surprising that it was rare to encounter the theme in materials aimed at the 4–6 and
7–10 cohorts. Second, critical thinking tends to be a prominent theme of educational materials (see Appendix A); this category comprised a relatively small share (7 percent) of our collection. Finally, critical thinking is a particularly difficult message to integrate into children’s
media given that a dominant theme of the works we collected, particularly those written for
the youngest children, is actually to reinforce compliant behaviors such as obeying parents.
This focus on compliance is consistent with a strong emphasis on such messages in materials
produced in the region for young children (e.g., UNDP, 2003). Below, we present descriptions
of several works that met our criteria. One work for each of the study age groups is described
in some detail.
Example from the Collection for Children Ages 4–6
Title: Sheep Don’t Eat Cats
Author: Khālid Jum’ah
Title (Arabic):
Author (Arabic):
Summary: This is the story of a family of cats that are frightened by their new neighbors—a
family of sheep. The father of the cat family is particularly anxious and forbids any intermingling with the sheep. However, the curiosity of the youngest cat leads to an exchange with the
sheep that confirms that the sheep mean no harm to the cats. The moral of the story is not to
demonize “the other” and that young people should move beyond the fears and stereotypes of
their parents’ generation.
Author Background: A Palestinian poet and writer of children’s stories, Khālid Jum’ah lives
in Rafah (Gaza). He is a frequent collaborator with both Tamer Institute and various UN
organizations including UNESCO and UNRWA.
Values Communicated: Acceptance of diversity, positive relationships, tolerant or pro-social
behavior, emotional complexity
Age Cohort: 4–6 years
Aimed at Specific Gender: No, the material
is appropriate for both boys and girls.
Publisher and Date of Publication: Tamer Institute for Community Education (2005)
Media Type: Book
ISBN: 9950326230
30
Identifying Arabic-Language Materials for Children That Promote Tolerance and Critical Thinking
Example from the Collection for Children Ages 7–10
Title: The Story of a Boy Named Fayez
Title (Arabic):
Author: Taghrīd ‘Ārif al-Najjār
Author (Arabic):
Summary: Fayez is a young boy who is preoccupied with his thoughts, earning him a reputation as a daydreamer. The other kids poke fun at him since this leads him to do things like
wear two different shoes. In another instance, Fayez is caught by his teacher staring out the
window at clouds whose shapes remind him of animals. Although Fayez is creative, he does
not get good evaluations in art class because the instructor asks the students to do things by
rote like reproducing a flower vase. Fayez makes a vase, but takes artistic license to change its
form, which does not please the instructor.
Then, during summer vacation, his father tries to teach him the trade of stone masonry.
Fayez catches on but quickly gets bored by the repetitive nature of the work. One day, while
toiling at the workshop with his father, Fayez imagines a creature that takes him to a dream
world where he ends up playing and dancing with the different stones. This daydream convinces Fayez that carving rocks isn’t boring, and he throws himself into the work, hoping that
the creature that visited him will return. Soon Fayez is experimenting and carving rocks into
different shapes (fish, horses, cars, plants, etc.). This angers his father, who considers it a waste
of time. However, while he is reprimanding Fayez, the owner of the workshop (a woman)
comes by, and she is impressed by Fayez’s work. She buys some of his pieces and asks Fayez’s
father if the boy may begin taking art classes at the institute she runs.
The father ultimately agrees, and Fayez loves the institute where he learns different arts
and becomes the star pupil. At the end of the summer, Fayez wins first place in an art exhibition, leading to an article about him in the newspaper and an interview on TV. He also
becomes popular at school, where the students ask for his help with art and he earns the nickname, “Fayez the Artist.”
Author Background: Taghrīd ‘Ārif al-Najjār is a Jordanian author who has published over 30
illustrated children’s books, including The Ogre, which also appeared as a segment on Arabiclanguage Sesame Street. The author holds a degree in English literature and certificates in
education and psychology from the American University in Beirut. Before becoming a writer
and publisher, she worked for several years as an educator. She founded al-Salwa Publishing
House in 1995.
Values Communicated: Acceptance of diversity, positive relationships, tolerant or pro-social
behavior, critical thinking
Age Cohort: 7–10 years
Aimed at Specific Gender: No, the material is appropriate for both boys and girls
although the story’s protagonist is a boy.
Publisher and Date of Publication: Al-Salwa Publishing House (2008)
Media Type: Book
ISBN: 9789957040437
The Materials Search Process and Description of the Collection
31
Example from the Collection for Children Ages 11–14
Title: And on That Night
Title (Arabic):
Author: Samīr Mālṭī
Author (Arabic):
Summary: This is a story about the sons (Walid and Samir) of the shaikhs of two tribes that
share the same oasis. The oasis has abundant water, date trees, and pasture for livestock, and
Walid and Samir become the best of friends. However, competition between the tribes over
water leads to fighting, with the conflict escalating to the point that tribe members are killed
in clashes over access to it. This leads the shaikhs of the two tribes to cover up the water
source—in order to prevent further conflict—and to cut off contact between the two tribes.
Walid’s father warns him against meeting Samir. However, after three days apart, Walid and
Samir reunite under the date tree where they had always passed their time. Life becomes very
difficult for the tribes because of the water conflict. Nevertheless, two years pass without any
reconciliation. Then, winter comes and brings less rain than expected, worsening the situation
until both shaikhs are on the verge of moving their tribes out of the oasis. Walid and Samir are
unwilling to be split apart, and one night they decide to take it upon themselves to uncover the
water source. When they do this, the water gushes forth, awakening the tribe members. The
shaikhs of the two tribes take the opportunity to reconcile and the book ends with both tribes
celebrating the prospects of a new, conflict-free life in the oasis. Finally, the skies open and it
begins to pour rain, symbolizing God rewarding the reconciliation.
Author Background: Unknown
Values Communicated: Acceptance of diversity, positive relationships, tolerant or pro-social
behavior, critical thinking, emotional complexity
Age Cohort: 11–14 years
Aimed at Specific Gender: No, the material is appropriate for both boys and girls
although the main characters in the story
are two boys and their fathers.
Publisher and Date of Publication: Asala Publishing (2009)
Media Type: Book
ISBN: 9789953537337
Rejected Works
Despite careful prescreening of materials through the methods described above, not all of the
works collected met screening criteria. Prescreening was not 100 percent effective because book
reviews and book summaries were often very short and could be misleading, just as authors’
backgrounds and past publishing records were not always an accurate indicator of the degree
to which a given work conveyed messages that aligned with our screening criteria. In total, 68
works, or roughly two-thirds of the collection, were accepted. These 68 works comprise the
final repository. The remaining 36 works were generally rejected because of insufficient attention to the values the materials were selected to promote. It should be noted that most of the
rejected materials were not promoting intolerance or encouraging blind obedience to norms
or rules; the materials simply did not explicitly promote tolerance or critical thinking. For